


i didn't have it in myself to go with grace

by aftersome



Category: The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-25
Updated: 2020-07-25
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:34:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 672
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25508305
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aftersome/pseuds/aftersome
Summary: a short re-write (of sorts) of jason's death scene because i was listening to my tears ricochet on repeat
Relationships: Jason Grace/Piper McLean
Comments: 2
Kudos: 8





	i didn't have it in myself to go with grace

**Author's Note:**

> a short re-write (of sorts) of jason's death scene because i was listening to my tears ricochet on repeat

There is quiet just then, a long quiet that stretches into a thousand years. Everything and nothing happens all at once, all in that quiet moment. Time slows, and Jason's eyes meet Piper’s. It’s a funny way to die, he thinks as he grips the sword piercing his stomach. He supposes there are worse ways to die: drowning takes around 10 to 12 minutes, death by hanging takes even longer, death by lightning - now, that would be hilarious, especially for the big people upstairs. 

His lower lip quivers as he staggers back. He coughed. He can see Piper’s shock from where he stands. There is ringing in his ears, and possibly also screaming, though that could have been him. Or Piper. He doesn’t really know.

Jason never really believed them when they said your life would flash before your eyes moments before you die, but now he can see just how true that was. There was a rising sun, just beyond the flutter of his eyelids, and he could feel the warmth of someone’s body next to him. It was probably Piper. He knew the feel of her skin even with his eyes closed. They were on the roof of his cabin, watching as the sun greeted them with its slow, warm rays. (He briefly remembered thinking how weird it was, because they were kind of just staring at his half brother driving his solar car, but when Piper turned to him, he found that he didn’t really care.)

Then he was back in the Argo II, chin on his palm as he hid a smile behind his hand. “What?” Piper mouthed, but Jason could hear her voice clearly, hadn’t even realized she hadn’t actually spoken, as if her voice was a song he’d always been singing. 

“Nothing,” he said instead and tucked her hair behind her ear.

Then they were at Piper’s house, and there was crying and trembling and painful clashing of history and what could have been. There had been a rising sun, then, and Jason remembered cursing at its slow, warm rays. How awful: it was the same sun that rose when Troy fell at the hands of the Greeks, when Pompeii was buried under the ashes of Mount Vesuvius. It was the same damn sun that rose when it morning came, and it had always been that way, at the hands of both Helios and Apollo. But it was also the same ball of fire that greeted them that early morning on the roof of Cabin 1, the same solar witness to their small, lovely moment. 

And now it was the same sun that rose in the horizon as Piper tearfully told him that she’d had enough.

“I have no idea if all of this is even true,” she admitted. “This ‘ love,’ whatever it is, was forced on us by Hera. I can’t- I can’t do this anymore. I’m sorry, Jason. I just don’t think I’m myself anymore, when I’m with you.” She smiled, but she looked like it pained her to tug at the muscles by her lips. “You understand, right?”

“Yeah.”

Piper reached for his hair, letting her fingers comb through it and trail against the side of his face. His skin tingled where she touched him, and she left emptiness on his flesh in her wake. He felt his bones hollow out, but the sinking feeling in his chest told him that she was probably right.

“You’re going to be okay, yeah?” she whispered. Her voice broke at the last syllable. She squeezed his hand. 

“Pain,” he said. “That’s what it’s like to be human.” He forced a smile as Piper wiped his cheek. “I’ll be fine.”

I’ll be fine, he thinks now, as his eyes meet Piper’s for a brief moment that stretched into a thousand years. He smiles. The sun is rising in some part of the world, as it always does. It always rises, even when Apollo himself is a mortal. He topples from his steed, and the world goes dark.

**Author's Note:**

> hmu! twitter: @msbykuroo/@fierrosgf


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